d mustache had been badly singed, his face was
smoke-grimed and dirty, great holes had been burned in the thin shirt,
the flesh showing angrily red through the rents. He was in sharp
contrast with her own white daintiness as he stood there grim and
forbidding, but she thought she had never looked upon a manlier man.

"I inferred from what Abbie said that you wished to see me?" The tone
was cool and even but respectful.

"Yes--I wished--I thought--" she faltered incoherently, looking
appealingly at him. But he only waited impassively, and the girl
nervously clasped her hands.

"Tongue burned too?" snapped Abigail, with withering sarcasm, glowering
wrathfully at him; the girl went up to him quickly, her eyes luminous
with compassion.

"Oh! You are injured--you are suffering--I did not know--"

"It is nothing--merely a few slight scorches. Pray do not be concerned
about it. And I am glad to assure you that McVey will recover. The
bullet--" At the white terror which crept into the girl's face he
stopped abruptly, clipping the words between his teeth and cursing his
inadvertence.

"The bullet--McVey--I do not understand," she was wild-eyed now with
fear and her voice was very faint. Old Abigail with an incredibly quick
movement caught her around the waist.

"Sit down, honey, and we'll tell you about it. There! Thet's a dear.
Matlock an' one uv his critters fired the haystacks an' cut the ditches
so's Ken wouldn't hev no water to save 'em with. An' Red he see one uv
'em ridin' off an' runs him down an' shoots him up right! But the ornary
cuss shoots back an' Red gets it in ther laig an' thet's all they is to
it. Don't yuh worrit none; we only lost thu leetlest stack o' ther
bunch."

"And the other--the one who ran away?" asked the girl with quick
concern.

Abigail's lips curved in a grim smile. "Red shot three times. Once at
the hoss."

CHAPTER V

"HER HEART WONT BE BROKE NONE"

True to her intuition, he came to her, lying in the hammock waiting his
coming the next morning.

"I am afraid," he began apologetically, "that I will have to postpone my
departure for some time, after all. It is imperative that the ditches be
repaired, the crops needing immediate irrigation, and McVey's
indisposition leaves us very short-handed. Besides, I am personally
responsible for all these mishaps and must make them good."

His speech was almost contrite in its humility and his manner had lost
much of its assurance.